An Encino man pleaded not guilty Friday to attempting to sell taxidermy mounts of migratory birds in violation of federal wildlife protection laws.Michael Roy McIntire, 59, allegedly advertised on Craigslist last August to sell a canvasback, cinnamon teal and mallard -- stuffed and mounted -- in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, according to a criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court.Undercover agents with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Department of Fish and Game answered McIntire's ad and went to his home where they purchased two mounts for $280, according to an affidavit in the case.The mallard, McIntire told the agents, was promised to another customer, prosecutors said.Once the sale was complete, the agents identified themselves and seized all three mounts.McIntire entered his plea to the misdemeanor charge before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ralph Zarefsky, who set trial for Nov. 19.If convicted, McIntire could face up to six months in prison. However, the case is expected to be resolved through a plea deal.McIntire was one of six Southland residents charged last month as part of an undercover federal probe dubbed Wild Web, targeting sales of endangered species and animal parts through online auction sites such as Craigslist.

Scores of wildlife traffickers face federal and state charges for selling protected species online last summer. The announcement today follows a coordinated undercover law enforcement operation led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and involving officers from 16 States, three Federal agencies, and three Asian countries.Operation Wild Web resulted in 154 buy/busts in the United States: 30 involving Federal wildlife crimes and 124 for violations of State wildlife laws. It also exposed online trafficking of live birds and tiger and leopard pelts in Southeast Asia, where enforcement agency participation was coordinated by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) Our message is clear and simple: The internet is not an open marketplace for protected species, said Edward Grace, the Services Deputy Assistant Director for Law Enforcement. State partners and our ASEAN-WEN counterparts were essential to the success of this operation, and that cooperation remains critical to disrupting wildlife trafficking on the Web and elsewhere.Over a 14-day period running from August 8 through August 22, 2012, approximately 70 Service special agents and conservation officers from State wildlife agencies across the country teamed up to investigate illegal online commerce in wildlife. Agents from the National Park Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration helped staff some of the 14 taskforce groups operating in the United States. Wildlife officers in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia simultaneously ran their own in-country Operation Wild Web taskforces targeting illegal wildlife internet sales.The operation also benefited from the support of the Services Intelligence Unit, and was aided by non-investigative assistance from the Humane Society of the United States and the International Fund for Animal Welfare here in this country and by the Freeland Foundation and Wildlife Conservation Society in Southeast Asia. More....

More than 150 people face federal and state charges after authorities disrupted online wildlife trafficking operations involving tiger, leopard and jaguar pelts, elephant ivory and live birds.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the arrests Thursday after an undercover operation that included officers from 16 states, three federal agencies and three Asian countries. Items seized under "Operation Wild Web" include the pelts of endangered big cats such as the Sumatran tiger, leopard and jaguar; live migratory birds such as the California scrub jay; whale teeth; elephant and walrus ivory; and a zebra pelt. "Our message is clear and simple: The Internet is not an open marketplace for protected species," said Edward Grace, deputy assistant director for law enforcement for the Fish and Wildlife Service. Working with counterparts in California, Texas, New York, Florida and Alaska and other states, federal officials targeted illegal wildlife sellers who operate through Craigslist, eBay and other Internet marketplaces and classified ads. Wildlife officers in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia ran similar operations at the same time.The items were seized last August, although charges are still being brought in many cases. Six Southern California residents were charged Thursday with selling endangered species and animal parts, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles said. More....

Six people, including a Hesperia man, were charged Thursday morning in Los Angeles federal court accused of selling endangered species and animal parts online through sites including Craigslist. Rodrigo Macedo, 29, of Hesperia is accused selling two Western Scrub Jays in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of six months in federal prison. Macedo was arrested as part of a 14-day operation conducted from Aug. 8 to Aug. 22 last year by local law enforcement officers, federal agencies and three Asian countries led by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Our message is clear and simple: The internet is not an open marketplace for protected species," said Edward Grace, the Service's Deputy Assistant Director for Law Enforcement in a written statement. "State partners and our counterparts were essential to the success of this operation, and that cooperation remains critical to disrupting wildlife trafficking on the Web and elsewhere." Rene De La Peza, 42, of Hacienda Heights, reportedly advertised and sold a jaguar skin through Craigslist for $15,000. Jaguars have been listed as endangered for 40 years. If convicted, he could be sent to federal prison for up to one year. Hungtington Beach husband and wife, Hanna Karim, 44, and Margarita Licomitros, 36, are facing charges of offering an endangered species for sale. They're also accused of advertising the pelt of a Sumatran Tiger skin for $8,000 on Craigslist. Tigers are critically endangered with experts estimating there are less than 500 Sumatran tigers remaining in the wild. More....

The Endangered Species Act -- designed to protect "critically imperiled species" from extinction -- was signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1973. This landmark legislation represented the first comprehensive federal action for protecting plants and animals whose populations were jeopardized. It came after more than a half century of environmental activism calling for federal action after the near extinction of buffalo and the disappearance of the passenger pigeon in the early 1900s.

How It Is Administered

The Endangered Species Act is administered by two federal agencies -- the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. FWS is responsible for all freshwater fish and all other species. NMFS is responsible for marine species. Species that occur in both fresh and marine water, such as sea turtles and Atlantic sturgeon, are managed jointly. Previous Protection While the Endangered Species Act was the first complete federal legislation creating the process by which any jeopardized species could be protected, it owes its origins to other previous, yet incomplete, federal legislation. The Lacey Act of 1900 prohibited interstate commerce of animals killed in violation of state game laws. It is now a part of the Farm Bill covering all fish, wildlife and plants. The Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 1929 and the Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940 took steps toward protecting birds. In 1966, the Endangered Species Preservation Act allowing for the listing of U.S. native animal species as endangered. It gave the Secretary of the Interior purchasing power to buy habitat lands -- a key move forward in protecting species, according to the Thoreau Institute. Foreign species were added to the ESPA in 1969 in an effort to protect whales and a new series of marine animals were added to protection afforded under the Lacey Act. Intense political pressure from environmental activists spurred Nixon to instruct congress to write a comprehensive endangered species act that would outline the qualifications for protection and what actions the federal government would take. More....

A Nenana man was sentenced in Federal Court on Friday for his connection in the violation of federal wildlife laws, the Lacey Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. 61-year-old Nenana resident Miles W. Martin was sentenced in U.S. District Court by Judge Ralph Beistline to six months in prison on four federal counts. He had originally been charged with 28 counts that included violation of wildlife trafficking, illegal sale of migratory birds, smuggling of wildlife, illegal sale of marine mammal parts and conspiracy. Along with his prison sentence, Martin’s sentence banned him from selling wildlife parts for life, required him to relinquish to the United States more than 900 pounds of wildlife parts including lion, bear, walrus ivory, parts of seal, polar bear parts, and elephant ivory, and to pay a fine of $6,500. He also received three years supervised release following his prison term. Martin admitted to being involved in a lengthy and long term walrus ivory smuggling conspiracy, as well as to being involved in the smuggling of wildlife parts world-wide, and to the illegal sale of migratory bird parts.

Regarding his involvement in illegal walrus ivory sales, Martin admitted that from at least February 2010 and continuing up to March 9, 2011, he conspired with others to illegally purchase walrus tusks and walrus parts for illegal resale, transport, and export from the United States. Between July 2010 and March 2011, Martin’s two co-conspirators traveled to Savoonga, Alaska, and purchased walrus tusks and parts taken from animals recently killed and tagged by individuals in Savoonga. The co-conspirators transported the walrus tusks and parts to their home in Glennallen, Alaska, and then transported some of those tusks and parts to Nenana, Alaska and Fairbanks where they transferred them to Martin. More....

Steven Patrick Garcia, Jr., 36, of San Jose, California, was sentenced today in federal court in Billings, Mont., to 24 months in prison to be followed by one year of supervised release for selling and offering to sell migratory bird parts in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and the Lacey Act, the Department of Justice announced today. Garcia had pleaded guilty to the charge on January 16, 2013.

Garcia admitted by his plea that on Dec. 2, 2008, he offered for sale and sold golden eagle and hawk feathers and that on Feb. 25, 2009, he sold golden eagle feathers knowing that those golden eagle feathers were unlawfully taken and possessed. “The protection of Montana's wildlife, including migratory birds, is a priority of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Montana. Today's prosecution and sentence demonstrate that individuals that attempt to profit from the unlawful taking of golden eagles, bald eagles, hawks and all other migratory birds will be investigated, prosecuted and punished accordingly,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana, Michael W. Cotter. Pursuant to the MBTA, the Secretary of the Interior maintains a list of migratory birds which are protected from, among other things, being killed, sold, bartered, transported or possessed, except as otherwise permitted by federal regulation. Enrolled members of federally recognized American Indian tribes may obtain permits to possess eagle and other migratory bird feathers and parts for religious and ceremonial purposes, but federal law strictly prohibits the sale of migratory birds, feathers, or their parts by any person. The Lacey Act prohibits, among other things, the sale of wildlife knowing that the wildlife was taken or possessed in violation of any federal wildlife-related regulation or law. More....

A California man has been sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to selling golden eagle and hawk feathers.Justice Department officials say Steven Patrick Garcia of San Jose was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Billings.The 36-year-old Garcia pleaded guilty in January to selling and offering to sell migratory bird parts in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Lacey Act.Prosecutors say Garcia sold hawk feathers for $200 and an eagle feather for $25 to a person in California in 2008.In 2009, Garcia sold hawk feathers and golden eagle wings for $400 to an undercover U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent.Prosecutors say investigators found 146 items containing feathers from 18 species of migratory birds in Garcia's home in Lame Deer.

Five people have been ordered to pay a combined $90,000 in restitution to the Division of Wildlife Resources in two statewide poaching cases that began with citizen tips. "These are two of the most substantial wildlife cases that I've seen in my entire career," said Tony Wood, chief of law enforcement for the state Division of Wildlife Resources. The case against Salt Lake County residents Jarod William Birrell, Zachary Kane Swank and Balenda Margaret Gutierrez began in 2010 when someone called the DWR's Help Stop Poaching Hotline. That tip led conservation officers to make a stunning discovery. "This group of individuals poached dozens, several dozens of deer," conservation officer Chris Schulze said Thursday. "We believe that they were traveling, really around the state, for the purposes of poaching," Schulze said. "Traveling as far as the St. George area specifically for these purpose." In total, the trio poached at least eight bucks and 15 to 20 does throughout the state, according to charging documents. Gutierrez, 41, was the first to plead guilty, entering her plea in August to one count of wanton destruction of protected wildlife, a third-degree felony. One other count was dismissed. She was sentenced to pay $8,000 in restitution to the Help Stop Poaching Hotline. She is on probation for three years, must complete 100 hours of community service and has lost her hunting privileges. Birrell, 36, was identified by investigators as the ringleader. He pleaded guilty in December to three counts of wanton destruction of protected wildlife, all third-degree felonies. Four additional counts were dismissed as a condition of his plea. He was sentenced to five years probation, ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution to the Help Stop Poaching Hotline, banned from hunting for 45 years and required to complete 150 hours of community service. More....